This is the debut album from French doom band Monastr.
Crushing together crust, post-metal, and sludge into 40 minutes of scathing doom, On Your Knees is a harrowing journey into the darkness of the real world’s horrors. There’s no escape here, only the harshness of reality. Continue reading “Monastr – On Your Knees (Review)”
This is the third album from US doom/sludge metal band Hush.
Hush play the sort of hybrid sludge metal that I like – bleak, crushing, nasty, and very, very heavy, but also emotive and atmospheric. Across these 56 minutes the band dish out the punishment mercilessly, but they also do a lot more than just batter and bruise, which is great to hear, as otherwise a running time like that could easily become a burden. Continue reading “Hush – The Pornography of Ruin (Review)”
Coming from the US, Sól play Post-Metal and this is their début.
The first thing to grab my attention is the bold and striking album art. I like a good cover.
As for the music, this is dynamic Post-Metal and the band appear to have fully mastered the build/release nature of the genre very early on in their career.
Lighter, relaxed, softer sections wind their way upwards; inevitably building to something darker and heavier than what they might seem to suggest at first.
Initial reference points are the standard triumvirate for this genre – Neurosis/Isis/Cult of Luna – but those are a given really, almost not worth mentioning. More interesting is an additional feeling of atmospheric Metal in places, such as the like that Agalloch produce. Indeed, helped along by the album artwork and title there is a strong feeling of nature and the natural environment throughout these songs that is not commonly felt in the Post-Metal genre as a whole.
The heavier sections can really let loose when they need to as well. The band don’t feel restricted to limiting their style to the perceived limitations of the genre, (as wide as they may be anyway), and when they’re not creating apocalyptic atmospheres reminiscent of horrendous natural disasters, they simply rage.
The feelings created by this release are immense and powerful. Whether soft or heavy, light or dark, this is an exemplary release that shows a multidimensional grasp of what makes exploratory and inventive music such as this as compelling and involving as it is.
Bands like Maeth, Monachus and Sól are truly exciting forces in heavy music these days; pushing the envelope and developing songs that are as addictive and satisfying as the best stories.
Amazingly, this is the first and only thing that Sól have done so far. I already want more.
Monachus are from Sweden and play epic, spiralling atmospheric Doom. Having been a fan of their previous work, both as Monachus and as previous incarnation Icos, I was looking forward to what this release would bring.
And what they bring is sludge-y Doom with some delicious Post-Metal excellence sprinkled on top. The music twists and turns and swamps the listener in warm, post-Neurosis/Isis sounds while proudly striding forwards, forging their own legacy of brilliance for others to follow.
The vocals are top-notch and seem to only be improving with time. Greater variation and depth of voice than ever before, and real feeling that hits you deep in the gut. From gruff to clean, the singer knows what he’s doing that’s for sure.
Each of the songs on this album are finely crafted examples of the art of musical journeys; each journey slowly taking the listener to parts unknown, below what is real and safe, into places other. The album is aptly named in my opinion; with each song giving the feeling of dragging the listener down, underground, or spiralling down the whirlpool to a dark underworld.
There are four songs on this album, and at 38 minutes in length it is over far too quickly as a release of this quality could easily be longer.
Definitely a superior release, with Monachus cementing their position as one of the premier acts of this style. The future is Below.
Available via Alerta Antifascista Records: www.doomrock.com
Wonderbox Metal 